Want to taste wine at farmers’ market?

June 20, 2014

Californians could soon take their wine tasting habits to farmers’ markets. [KEYT]

A bill that would allow limited wine tasting at farmers’ markets has passed the Assembly on a unanimous vote and is now moving through the state Senate. Wine bottle sales are currently legal at farmers’ markets in the state, but wine tasting is not.

AB 2488, introduced in February by Democratic Assemblyman Marc Levine, would allow farmers’ market managers to decide if they would like to offer wine tasting at their events. If so, the proposed law would require event organizers to cordon off an area of the market and to allow no more than three ounces of wine per adult consumer.

The bill would also limit farmers’ market operators to allowing just one winery to conduct tastings at each event.

The legislation passed the Assembly on a 73-0 vote last month. The Senate Governmental Organizational Committee approved of it on an 8-0 vote on June 10, and the bill has now moved on to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

6 Comments

How much more of this omnipresent wine tasting crap do we have to endure? 200+ wineries in the North County alone – and I wouldn’t be surprised if more out-of-town investors are lining up to get a piece of the pie. Meanwhile the ground water level keeps dropping.

Only ONE winery per market day is allowed to give tastings so do the math. It’s not like that day’s wine vendor won’t notice some idjit continually ‘bellying up to the bar’, enough to become inebriated off the 3oz samples.